Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

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Allen West Thinks He Was Cheated

Outgoing Rep. Allen West can always be counted on to combine three things: Macho, tough guy posturing and victim posturing (yes, simultaneously) and unsupported claims that strain credulity. Here he is on Mark Levin’s radio show, claiming that he was cheated out of his seat:

LEVIN: You are a national treasure. You are way too important to have something like this to happen and off you go. That can’t happen. So I’m really curious to know. Do you have further public service in mind, potentially?

WEST: The most important thing everyone has to understand is my voice is not going to be lost. We’ve gotten a lot of opportunities, a lot of offers, and we’re going to make sure we continue to have that platform. […] I’m a warrior and I’m a statesman and I’m a servant of this republic. I’m not going away just because of a congressional race where he seems to have to cheat to beat me.

LEVIN: He sure as hell did. It’s disgusting.

West is a warrior and a statesman in exactly the same sense that I’m an introvert and an aerobics instructor. And remember when he pulled out of the race, he said that while he still had unspecified concerns about the vote counts, he was conceding because even if all those concerns were answered he still wouldn’t be able to win. Now he claims he was cheated. Hey, whatever makes you sleep better at night.

This attitude does not surprise me in the least for it is one I once shared with West and Levin. One of the things I remembered from my days as a conservative Republican was the feeling that our values and policies were self-evidently superior and moral. If all was fair and square we surely would have won because all of “decent” America shared our Red, White, and Blue love of America, Mom, apple pie, the troops, and of course, JEEZ-us. Therefore, the only way those liberals–the embodiment of all that was evil, tyrannical, and perverse in the America–could win was through fraud and deception.

When I read that I couldn’t help but mentally picture them rubbing their crotches together while they talked. “oooh, you’re suuuuuch a national …treasure.” I’m glad they’ve found true love in this hard, cold universe.

I note how Bill O’Reilly frames his arguments that way. If he doesn’t like a particular position or point of view, he labels it as “far Left” thereby absolving himself of the need to substantively address it. Simply giving it the label “far Left” is to render it not worthy of discussion.

And whenever a judge or a politician rules or votes on something that favors the liberal position, conservatives brand that judge or politician as being “out of touch.” It’s the idea that the right wing conservative position is the normal default position that should never be changed or questioned.